Lamb And The Tiger example essay topic

663 words
Of the many poetic works by William Blake, "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" show a large amount of similarity, as well as differences, both in the way he describes the creatures and in the style he chose to write them. The reader will find many similarities in these two poems. Both of them discuss the creation of the creatures by God. The lines, "Little Lamb, who made thee" and "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry" clearly show that the poet is referring to a being who is capable of creating life (538). These two poems are also alike in the aspect that they both talk about the object viewed in the eyes of the common man. "The Lamb" is described in a biblical sense to give the reader a feeling of a soft, gentle, heavenly creature.

In "The Tyger", Blake uses the same technique to describe the tiger as a fearful, devil-like monster. The structure of the two poems also reveals a large amount of similarity. In "The Tyger" and "The Lamb", each consecutive sentence rhymes. It demonstrates how rhythm captures and keeps the reader's attention as opposed to a poem lacking rhythm. The use of questions is also highly utilized in the two written works.

This makes the reader ponder the subject discussed in the poem. The words "thy", "thou", "thine", and "thee" present in the poems show that both of them were written in the deferential language of the Bible. Although "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" share many similarities, they also have some differences. The poems suggest that the lamb and the tiger were both created by the same creator. The poems read together also raise some interesting questions.

How could a creator create a soft, gentle, loving creature, and with the same hand construct a dangerous creature How could the creator's hand make a creature with the softest clothing of delight, then grab the fire that is in the tiger's eye Blake suggests God seemed pleased with his creation of the lamb and felt a feeling of fear and regretfulness after creating the tiger. In "The Lamb", William Blake compares the lamb to the Baby Jesus. In contrast, he uses earthly features such as night, fire, skies, and forests to describe the mighty tiger. The two poems also show differences in the way they were written. Instead of using alternating two and six lined stanzas like he used in "The Lamb", Blake uses constant four-lined stanzas to provide his image of his tiger.

The titles also reveal different spellings. The lamb is spelled as it was intended, simple, short, and sweet. In Blake's "The Tyger", he replaces the letter "I" with the letter "Y" to give the name a deceptive and creepy appearance like the creature he is describing in his poem. The stanzas present in "The Tyger" end in question marks more often than they do in the lines of "The Lamb".

By reading both of the poems, the reader will discover that the word "God" is replaced with the word "He", leaving the reader to assume that the poet is referring to God when he talks about He. Another noticeable difference between the two literary works is that the first and last two lines of each stanza are repeated in "The Lamb" as opposed to the whole first and last stanzas that are repeated in "The Tyger."The Lamb" and "The Tyger" by William Blake are both remarkable works of poetry. They both reflect the personal style of the poet, but they also show the difference in the poet's attitude in describing his subjects. He gives the reader the impression of an innocent lamb in which God took great pride. He then gives the reader the thought of God's disapproval after his creation of the tiger.